Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel (5 page)

Read Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel Online

Authors: Amanda Bonilla

Tags: #Fantasy, #E-Book

BOOK: Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel
11.08Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
“I’ve come with a message,” he said.
“Oh yeah? What’s tha—?”
Before I could finish, he appeared in front of me in a wisp of darkness. His form became solid and his face demanded my attention.
“You are summoned to the king’s guard,” he said.
“Whose king?” I asked. Certainly not mine. I was my own woman, and I had no country or master to swear allegiance to.
He brought his hand up to my cheek. I could feel the heat before he touched me, but when he did, I felt as if he’d laid my skin against one of those electric heating pads that humans use to ease their aches and pains. Wonderful.
He brushed his thumb across my cheek before dropping his hand to his side. I couldn’t break his hold on me, and my eyes didn’t leave his. I swallowed. Hard.
“
Your
king,” he whispered, and vanished.
I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
Well, this has been a shit-tastic day,
I thought, leaning against the kitchen counter to steady my quaking body.
I had been alone for so long—the only one for years. I’d developed a comfort zone and lived my life within its boundaries. Well, that was shot to shit now. I turned toward the picture window, staring out across the dark city peppered with random white lights.
The rain had started up again and pounded on the skylights like it wanted in. I watched the water bounce and land, running in rivers down the pitched glass. Making my way to the bathroom, still watching the rain on the skylights, I shucked my robe and started the shower. I never used the cold water; I like my showers
hot,
and the temperature didn’t damage my preternatural skin. Within moments, the room filled with glorious steam, and I joined its company for a single second as I glided under the water. I could have taken the extra couple of steps, but why exert the energy?
The steam was welcome as I inhaled and held it in my lungs. I gave off a perfumed aroma like any Shaede, but mine smelled like summer blossoms in the late-afternoon sun. Sitting on the tiled shower floor, I let the scalding water pour over my skin until it ran cold. I passed through the steam again—lazy, I know—and ended up next to my robe. After running a comb through my hair, I collapsed into bed and drifted off to sleep, wrapped like a mummy in fluffy white fleece.
Xander’s visit prompted me to dream about Azriel that night. His perfect image floated nearby, just as I remembered him. With olive skin and black hair, he looked like someone of Middle Eastern or Indian descent, though he’d been cut from an entirely different cloth. His eyes were nearly black—cold and devoid of emotion. But when he smiled, a spark lit in them and they danced to life with a mischievous gleam that rendered me helpless. He was neither kind nor cruel; he simply was.
He made me, left me, and taught me nothing.
My eyes were thick with sleep but I pried them open, fighting against the dream. My heavy breathing filled the air, though I lay still as death on the bed. Banishing every thought of Azriel, I closed my lids and forbade myself to dream.
 
The next morning, I sat at the table, working on my second cup of coffee, when I heard the lift. My apartment, which used to be old warehouse space, occupies the entire top floor, hence the lack of an actual door. No locks, no security code. Just an old freight elevator protected by an iron gate. Some people might have been put off by the lack of security, but I’d never worried about my personal safety. A proper visitor would’ve thought about ringing the bell before coming up, but this guest didn’t have a problem with barging in like he owned the place.
Tyler.
He had a recognizable signature for a human, and my unique senses had no problem picking him out, even in a crowd. His smell was different from most of theirs—homey and comforting with a dark, spicy edge. I’d wondered about it, but it’s not like I lost any sleep over it. Maybe it was his aftershave. I loved the way he smelled. One breath of him could make me feel almost normal, but I would never tell him that.
He helped himself to a cup of coffee, knowing that I wasn’t going to extend any kind of Martha Stewart hospitality, before taking a seat next to me. I didn’t look at him. For some reason, Xander’s visit made me feel as if I’d betrayed Tyler somehow, though the Shaede’s invasion of my privacy left me more rattled than enamored. I hoped Ty couldn’t sense my leftover discomfort, and I prayed he’d come this morning because he had good news.
Tyler never disappoints.
“It’s set up,” he said. “Tomorrow at midnight.”
My scalp prickled and the chill continued down my arms. Something didn’t add up. “How’d you get him to do it?” I asked, still not making eye contact.
“It took some coaxing, but I convinced him.”
“
You
can’t even get face time with the guy. But suddenly he’s warmed up to the idea?”
“More or less,” Tyler said. “I told him there was a complication and you wouldn’t do the job without seeing him in person first.”
“How do you know I didn’t get the job done?” My suspicion of Tyler grew by the second. But every instinct in me screamed that he’d die before allowing any harm to come to me. Still, no matter who’d orchestrated it, the whole situation reeked of a setup.
“Look, Darian. We’ve worked together for a long time. When you called last night, you didn’t say the job was done, and you’ve never given a passing thought to the identity of a client before. What happened? Was the mark a kid or an old man or”—he paused to sip from his cup—“something else?”
As a rule, I never take jobs that involve innocent people. It rests a hell of a lot easier on my conscience to know I’m being paid to clean the streets of one more asshole, and Tyler felt the exact same way. Thugs, criminals, thieves, drug dealers. The dregs of society were
this
assassin’s cup of tea. But I never forgot that equally nasty people paid me for that service. They’d get theirs eventually. Shit always had a tendency to roll downhill.
Tyler hit one nerve and then another by implying the mark may have been anything but human. We didn’t usually discuss my otherness. He knew more about the supernatural than a human should, and he brokered in things far from my scope of business.
I turned to look at him and snatched up my cup, deliberately displaying my more than human speed. I expected to see fear, but only admiration crossed his gorgeous face.
His eyes took on that feral look that all men get when desire takes possession of their minds. He wasn’t observing the creature in me. He saw only the woman: soft, sleep-tousled, with luminous eyes and a pouty mouth. And he wanted to kiss me. I could tell.
Boy, did I want him to. I’m not going to deny that the thought of seeing him naked and in my bed left me feeling a little more than flushed. But I didn’t mix business with pleasure. The last thing I wanted was to put Tyler in danger, no matter how well he could handle himself. I looked across the table as he brought the coffee mug to his lips, a frown marring his normally unworried forehead. Something wild and sweet bloomed in my chest, and it scared the hell out of me. I’d been burned more than once, and for that reason, I just didn’t do love. Besides, I cared about Ty too much to let him get dragged into whatever mess I’d landed myself in. Xander had popped in and out of my studio with ease, showing that if he could find me, anyone could. And now the mystery client wanted to meet with me.
In my line of work, nothing happened that easily.
Chapter 4
 
T
yler agreed—well, demanded, actually—to accompany me to the meeting that night. He told me he’d pick me up at eleven thirty, and since he was never late, I knew my timing would be perfect.
He pulled up to my building at eleven twenty-nine, probably allowing the extra minute to come up to my studio. But I had prepared to give him a show, hoping to demonstrate to him that meddling in the affairs of the nonhuman variety could be hazardous to his health.
I appeared as soon as his foot hit the sidewalk. A trace of dark mist trailed out behind me, and he nearly bumped into my body as it became corporeal. I had never let him see me pass from shadow before, and I hoped I’d shaken him up.
Abandoning my signature black, I was decked out in white from head to toe. My white-on-white striped blouse buttoned up to the swell of my breasts, with my white bra visible underneath. I’d tucked the shirt into a white pencil skirt that reached to my white satin heels and hugged my hips perfectly. Business attire, to an extent.
I could almost hear the rhythm of his heart increase as he devoured every inch of me with his eyes. He showed amazing restraint as I fought my own urge to reach out and run my fingers through his hair. Tonight was for Tyler as much as for my own peace of mind. I had to do something to cool the slow burn between us before it raged into a fully involved fire. I’d take care of this mystery client and slap Tyler with a dose of reality, and, hopefully, myself as well. Perfect. I’d be killing two birds with one stone.
“We’d better get going.” He breathed close to my face and ventured toward the car door.
He moved to open it for me, but since I was going all out to shake him up, I slid through the solid metal like a warm breeze and appeared in my seat, staring serenely out the window at him.
Tyler stood on the sidewalk, gaping. His hands hung limp at his side, resembling the wax figures you see in museums that depict a Cro-Magnon man.
Good.
I’d gotten my point across. It took a minute for him to snap out of it, but he regained his composure and took the driver’s seat. He didn’t utter a word after that, which suited me just fine because I’m not what you’d call a conversationalist.
At five minutes to midnight, we pulled into the parking lot of an old warehouse. This place looked more like what I expected in my line of work. I suddenly longed for a nice pair of stretchy black slacks and my boots.
I was unarmed. Stupid? Maybe. Arrogant? Absolutely. But I didn’t need a blade to be deadly.
I left the car the same way I’d entered. My shadow form slid through the metal, plastic, and glass that made up the door, and I gathered myself into a solid form right outside the vehicle. I waited for Tyler with my back turned to him, to show him I wasn’t afraid.
He took my arm this time. Desire rolled off him like sweat. His fingers tightened against the gauzy fabric of my shirt, and the contact sent a thrilling pulse through my bloodstream. I kept my distance, knowing anything besides a work relationship would crash and burn. But my heart jumped in my chest every time he touched me, and I wanted more. I took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand.
But, damn, he smelled good.
Just before the warehouse entrance, he stopped. I kept walking, but he pulled me back. I recoiled and ended up face-to-face with him. His nostrils flared and he gripped my other arm, not cruelly, but with enough purpose that I could sense he was about to do something rash, spoiling all of my well-thought-out plans in the process.
“I know my timing sucks,” he said in a ragged voice, “but I have to do this.”
Even though I was substantially stronger, I let him pull me closer. He slid his hands from my arms and placed one at the small of my back. The other wound through my hair. He dipped his head to mine, his tongue tracing his bottom lip. My stomach clenched as I was hit with a longing I’d been suppressing for far too long.
“Darian.” He paused a fraction of an inch from my mouth, and my breath came heavy as I waited for him to follow through.
His mouth tasted just as delicious as I’d imagined it would, cool compared to my warmer temperature. Like a tall glass of ice water after a five-mile run. His arms tightened around me. My tongue darted inside his mouth and he returned the gesture, a moan escaping from deep within his throat. His head slanted, urgency playing out through his mouth, lips, and tongue, and his arms wrapped tight around me in a way that made me feel both protected and possessed.
The echo of footsteps on concrete made its way to my ears through the haze of desire fogging my brain. Tyler couldn’t hear it, but I could. That cooled my jets as effectively as a cold shower. I didn’t want to get caught with my pants down, as it were.

Other books

New Species 05 Brawn by Laurann Dohner
Maker of Universes by Philip José Farmer
Dear Meredith by Belle Kismet
Memorias de Adriano by Marguerite Yourcenar
Heaven Cent by Anthony, Piers
Never Fear by Scott Frost